


Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars

by aurembiaux



Series: Come to the Dark Side, we have fanfics. [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Darkside AU, General!Leia, I'm sorry Kes, Open Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-19 22:42:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14247285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurembiaux/pseuds/aurembiaux
Summary: Leia, General of the Empire, meets a handsome smuggler, conforming a relationship with him that leads them to unexpected places through the years.





	Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars

The first time they meet, she just needs some smuggler to do the dirty job a General of the Empire isn’t supposed to be engaging in, but needs done anyway. He is easy enough to track (a preceding reputation is useful for that) and even easier to buy. Not that many smugglers would say no to a high officer of the Empire, of course, but she had done her research, and it turned out the guy was in desperate need of money. Convenient.  
He is also in desperate need of someone that can explain to him what limits were and how to deal with his superiors, but uncharacteristically, Leia finds it fun, rather than annoying, as she usually would. Oh, he is annoying, that is undeniable, but she is so tired of being surrounded by bowing, respectful and frightened subordinates that his flirting mockery is rather refreshing. And they are alone. She can indulge in it for a while.  
“Don’t you worry, Princess –we’ll get the job done,” he says with a wink, and Leia has to lift an eyebrow to fight off her impulse to smile.  
“Princess? My title is General, captain Solo.”  
“I heard those guys call you that, yeah.” The gesture he does toward the door is rather dismissive, as if dozens of Imperial soldiers were nothing, and Leia wonders if he is so stupidly smug with every woman he tries to flirt with. He probably is, although he might be overdoing it a little bit in front of a younger girl, who is already so highly ranked. “I think that Princess suits you better, though –you are so regal. More than the Emperor himself, I bet.”  
Privately, Leia thinks that she would be better than the Emperor in many aspects, but she doesn’t allow herself to think about that very often. And she can’t let his statement go without some reprimand.  
“That’s close to treason, captain,” she says warningly, but there is no immediate threat in her words, and he knows it. He knows it’s better to retreat, too.  
“Well, Madam, I’m a criminal. I guess I can’t help myself,” he says with raised palms and a smile that promises he won’t make that mistake again. Good.  
“You are lucky that we have decided to make use of your talents in that area, rather than executing you for your crimes,” she answers, rising to her feet. The deal is settled.  
“I’m a man of many talents,” he assures, rising as well. “Both in criminal and… more private areas.”  
“Really.” She lets the amusement show in her voice, but also a hint of promise. “Go make yourself useful in the criminal capacity, then. When you return I might be interested in knowing about your other areas of… expertise. I’ll let you know.”  
When he returns, she finds out he is rather talented indeed.  
*  
Leia is bored out of her mind. This has to be the worst party she has ever attended, and she is counting her punishment-wedding in that list. In that case, at least she was able to choose the music and the dishes, as if that made up for not letting her choose her husband. Leia sighs and takes a sip of her drink, trying to forget about that awful event. The Emperor knew how to land a blow, and when he married her to the loyal, well-born, and oh-so-lowly-ranked Sargent Kes Dameron, everybody got the message: Leia Skywalker might be a valued General and the honorable daughter of lord Vader, but she was also not in his good books.  
The Emperor had very good reasons to distrust her, of course, but he was also being unfair. Leia hasn’t actually done anything against him, after all. Not yet, at least.  
Two years have passed, and she still resents being scorned in such a way. At least something good had come from that, she guesses, and her heart softens at the thought of Poe and his little, tiny hands and kicking feet, the way he starts to crawl wherever he can. Still, a wonderful son doesn’t exactly compensate being spit in the face in such a public way.  
She should have another cup, she decides, and is trying to achieve that goal, when she sees him again. The smuggler, what was his name –ah. Solo, that was it. Han Solo.  
“What’s a guy like you doing in a place like this?” she asks, approaching him. His smile tells her that he appreciates the joke.  
“A big fish owed me a favor, so he invited me to this party. Well, me and my business partner, of course, but Chewbacca is rather fond of the rum. He has gone looking for more.”  
She folds her hands in the back in her best official posture, and pretends to be considering this. She doesn’t think he is lying, but it’s easy enough to find out. If he is lying, though… what then? Should she alert the local authorities? Handle the problem herself? Her belly is doing some funny things at the idea of meeting him privately again, so she decides to cut that path of though and asking.  
“I guess you won’t mind showing me you invitation, then. After all, I have to make sure you didn’t just sneak in here to steal something”  
He sighs rather dramatically, but reaches for something in his pocket.  
“So much distrust,” he complains while handling her an invitation card. “I did come here to steal something, though.”  
“Oh?” She lifts her gaze up from the card, looking at him curiously. “Is this a confession? What were you intending to steal?”  
“A kiss from your mouth, of course,” he says with a huge grin. Surely he thinks himself terribly clever, the idiot.  
It has caught her off guard, though, and even makes her blush a little. Leia clears her throat to cover it up.  
“Now, now, captain Solo. I’m a respectably married woman. A mother, even.  
If she is being honest, she is throwing bait here. She wants to know if he dislikes the idea of making love with a mother, with a woman whose body is now considered for so many flawed and imperfect. She studies his face, but it doesn’t show anything of the sort.  
She rather likes him for that.  
“Yeah, I heard about your marriage”, says Solo, casually leaning against a column. “The guy sounded like a bore, though. You may say whatever you want of me, Princess, but I’m not boring. That I can promise”  
He wasn’t boring the last time, certainly, and she doubts he will be now.  
Well, what the hell. Maybe Kes will know, maybe he will even tell Palpatine. Whatever. She did her part and endured the punishment that was delivered to her without a (public) complaint, but she is Leia, General and heroine of the Empire, daughter and sister of legendary warriors, and she refuses to let anyone control what happens in her bed.  
*  
The year that follows Palaptine’s death is chaos. That is, chaos by the Empire’s standards, which aren’t very permissive, when it comes to disorder. There are plots, assassinations, rebel uprisings and a very nasty investigation in regards to the responsible of the death. Fortunately the winner in the “Who wants to be Emperor?” contest is Mas Amedda, a friend of hers, so the final report wisely concludes that Palpatine and Dath Vader killed each other, leaving any conspiracy out of the question. Both Leia and her brother are found innocent of any treason.  
On the other hand, knowing that her father most likely had to confront and murder the Emperor, when his liege told him he had discovered a conspiracy lead by Leia is killing her. But that isn’t something she can tell anyone, except maybe Luke. Well, Luke knew anyway.  
So she focuses on performing her duty and stabilizing the Empire, getting rid of rebels and high officers who think they can win themselves a throne. A purpose increasingly difficult due to her growing belly, though.  
Leia had waited until it was impossible to conceal her state before making it public and ordering some troopers to go and find Han. She had counted on two months for the troopers to be able to locate him – in their last encounter, knowing how things would get like even if her coup succeeded, she had advised him to hid well. Then she added two weeks for him to get over the panic of being a father, and finally two days of trip from wherever he was. That would still give her plenty of time until the baby was born.  
His panicking only lasts a week, which she appreciates. She appreciates even more that he promises to stay around for some months, so he can help with the baby. She has hired nurses, of course, but it is good to know that the can take his duties seriously, if necessary. Besides, Poe is already delighted with the idea of playing with someone new; it is good he can fill the gap Kes’ death has left in the boy’s life, even if it is for a few months.  
Han is surprisingly helpful during the last months of her pregnancy, even fussy, which amuses her. She can see how he gets restless staying for so long in a place, but he behaves better than she would have expected him to.  
And stars, not only was he not he concerned by the idea of lying with a mother, but he seems rather fond of sleeping with a pregnant woman, as well. That certainly helps Leia to get rid of the stress of sorting out the chaos the galaxy is in, not to mention, her own chaotic emotions of sadness and guilt over the death of her father.  
Once the baby is actually born, though, he has to open his big mouth and royally fuck up. She knows he has little experience with babies. His questions on the matter made that obvious, but really.  
“Isn’t he too little?” he asks, inspecting Ben closely. Leia, who is still coming to terms with the fact that she has just given birth to a fucking gigantic baby, is rather glad to not have a blaster within her reach. Her son is too young to be fatherless.  
She growls at him.  
“Next time you can expel that out of your uterus, if you think you can do better.”  
Nobody lives that long as a smuggler without knowing when to retreat. Han smells the danger in the air and starts apologizing more quickly than his ship travels through the galaxy.  
*  
“We should make you respectable,” says Leia some years later, and Han seems genuinely scared.  
“We should what? Why?” he asks worriedly. Leia can’t help but chuckle.  
“Do not worry, I don’t intend to turn you into a bureaucrat or anything of the sort. But you are the father of one of my sons. I can’t introduce you as a smuggler.”  
“You usually introduce me as a businessman, which isn’t so far from the truth, from a certain… perspective,” he says, still clearly suspicious of this ‘respectability’ she is trying to force him in.  
“I had thought we could work with that,” explains Leia. “Perhaps we could launder some of the money you have made these years. Then you could start owning some real business… I can easily tell you about some of the most lucrative businesses in the galaxy, of course, and you could hire someone that knows how to run them. Believe me, you will make much more money than smuggling, and, as for thieving, you’ll still have ample opportunities for that. Chewbacca could be your partner, of course; I know the Empire isn’t exactly supportive of non-human species, but you’ll find out that being rich really makes a difference. Besides, Sloane is trying to change that sort of things.”  
He thinks about her proposal, and she gives him time for it. She really wants him to give it a try; Leia’s support had been decisive, when Sloane had confronted Gallius for the throne after the death of Amedda. Subsequently, she is now among the most important officers that are close to the new Empress. Dating a smuggler isn’t fitting to be honest, and the more accepted they are, the better for the kids.  
“I wouldn’t mind doing that,” he finally says. “But I really like the… the deals, the trips, the danger. I don’t want to give it up, Leia. Smuggling is what I do best.”  
She considers telling him that she really thinks he is better in the bed than in the ship, but she refrains, when she realizes how important this is to him. She understands the need of having something that gives purpose to one’s life, beyond the personal area. She, for instance, likes being a mother, but she would go crazy if her life was reduced to that. If Han feels his life would be miserable as the mere façade of a business empire, then they must find another path.  
“Maybe you could still do that,” Leia says, thinking about it. “You would have to do it with a fake name, though; people already know that the father of my son is Han Solo. And you would have to go to some business meetings and similar events, because that would help you pretend you are now a respectable businessman. If you want to take your ship and smuggle from time to time, though, that would be all right, as long as you don’t get caught. Releasing you could be arranged, but it would be very inconvenient.”  
That has him grinning.  
“Don’t you worry, Princess,” Han says, bending down to kiss her. “I won’t get caught. I would hate to be an inconvenience.”  
Leia only half believes his promise (he loves being an inconvenience, to be honest), but he does keep his word. Or at least, if he gets caught, he manages to get free without her assistance, which is good enough for her.  
*  
He sleeps with other people when he is away, of course. So does she. Considering the amount of time they spend on their own, any other option would be impractical. Sometimes, the deal is not only convenient, but even advantageous: once, for instance, Leia had gone to Cloud City in a diplomatic mission, only to find out that Han was sharing it’s rulers bed. Throwing Lando out of it would have been rude, to be honest, but it was big enough for the three of them. In another occasion, years later, Han had showed up, while she was having a rather nice holiday with Amilyn Holdo, whose eyes light up the sight of Leia’s lover.  
So really, it is a very satisfying arrangement.  
Her only worry is explaining this to the children. She would be sincere about it, and she doesn’t expect them to judge her or anything of the sort. Children assume things rather naturally. Still, she isn’t looking forward to the questions the explanation would elicit. Ben was confused for months over the fact that Poe’s father not only wasn’t his own, but wasn’t even alive. Other than that, she is not worried at all.  
Once Han does worry, though.  
“Well there”, he says after a long absence, caressing Leia’s protruding belly. “Who’s this one’s father?”  
“Nobody,” she answers, quite sincerely. He truly had been nobody, just a servant she had met during a diplomatic trip. At this point, she couldn’t even remember his face or his name, assuming she had known the latter. She had probably asked, though. She liked to be nice.  
Her answer makes Han frown.  
“Well, you don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to,” he says, and he sounds rather… hurt.  
That makes Leia blink, surprised, and she tries to understand what it is that has upset him. They have secrets, of course. They don’t spend more than some months each year together, at best, and while they really appreciate each other, they aren’t exactly best friends or anything of the sort. Still, they probably have never refused to tell anything to the other; something personal, that is. Is that what is worrying him?  
“He truly was nobody,” she insists. “I barely remember him.”  
Then he understands.  
“Ah.” Han caresses her belly again. “So this child is looking for a father, uh?”  
She rolls her eyes.  
“The child is neither looking for nor needs a father. However, if you want to play that role, you’re welcome to. I guess you’ll be staying around for some of the baby’s first years, at least.”  
“What, only for that time?” Smiling, he takes Leia’s face in his hands. “Are you planning on dropping me and looking for a younger model, Princess?”  
She tries to pretend she is thinking about it, but the laughter wins the battle.  
“If I found a younger model of yourself, I would share him with you,” she answers fondly. “I hope you’ll extend me the same courtesy, were you to find my younger double.”  
His smile turns salacious. It looks like he rather likes the idea of sharing their doubles.  
“That sounds like a hell of a plan, Princess.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first fanfic in English, so please be gentle with me ^^'.


End file.
